Track shoe



l. SHAPIRO Dec. l, 1953 TRACK SHOE 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Feb. l0, 1951l. SHAFIRO TRACK SHOE Dec. l, 1953 2 Sheets-SheeiI 2 Filed Feb. 10, 1951lllfl lllll l ?atentesl Der. l, i953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TRACKsuon Isadore Shapiro, Chicago, lll., assignorLby mesne assignments, toA. R. Hyde & Sons Company, a corporation of Massachusetts ApplicationFebruary 10, 1951, Serial No. 210,313

(o1. .ie- 2.5)

'be of extremely light weight and fit the foot snugly, in the manner ofa gloove, in order that the wearer may be practically unconscious of thepresence thereof. In the manufacture of such shoes, therefore particularpains are taken to make the upper of the shoe of extremely pliable,lightweight material, such as kidskin and other leathers. To achievelightness of weight it is customary not to provide al lining. Suchmaterials are stretchable to an undesirable extent and lack resilience,failing to return to normal size after stretching.

It is found that while such shoes may fit the wearers foot perfectlywhen new, after even moderate use the shoe invariably loses its snug ntbecause of the violent stretching produced by muscular action togetherwith impregnation of sweat or outside moisture. The wearer maycompensate for such stretching to acertain extend by means of thelacing, drawing the shoes more snugly around the instep, but this isonly capable cf compensating for stretch transversely of the foot.Longitudinal stretch, on the contrary, cannot be compensated for by anyknown means and, therefore, a shoe soon becomes too long for the wearersfoot and must be discarded because of L foot slippage within the shoe,producing unsatisfactory traction and annoyance.

In accordance with my invention, I have provided means whereby a shoemay be rendered substantially immune to excessive longitudinal stretchand which will, also, greatly limit the amount of transverse stretch. Iaccomplish this object by applying to the shoe a band of material Awhichwill permit a limited amount of give, so that the wearers foot will notfeel as Vif it were enclosed in a vise, but, at the same time, willrestrict the amount of stretch to a low minimum. Thus, the life of theshoe will be greatly extended because of the elimination of suchexcessive stretch as has heretofore required early discarding of theshoe.

The band which is applied to the shoe in accordance with my inventionextends substantially from toe to heel thereof along both sides of theupper and may be secured to the shoe in various 2 ways. For example, Ihave found that a shoe embodying my invention may be produced either bysewing the band along its top and bottom edges either to the outside orthe inside of the shoe upper; in another arrangement, the band isinterlaced from the outside to the inside of the shoe at spaced points.

My invention will be more fully understood by reference to the appendeddrawings illustrating preferred embodiments thereof, wherein:

l is a side elevational view of a track shoe illustrating apreferredform of my invention;

Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are sectional views taken substantially along the lines2-'-2, 3--3 .and 4 4-, re spectively, of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is an yelevational View similar to lig. l but showing anotherembodiment of my inven`- tion;

Fig. 6 -is a sectional view taken substantially along the line Ii-S ofFig. 5; and

Fig. 7 `is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along theline 1 1 of Fig. 5 but substantially straightened out for convenience ofillustration.

The shoe illustrated is in basic structure substantially a standard typeof track shoe as known in the United States for many years, although itshould be understood, as stated above, that my invention is likewiseapplicable to shoes intended for other purposes. However, my inventionis particularly applicable to shoes of the Oxford or low type, i. e.,wherein the shoe iits snugly around the foot and terminates at or aboutthe base of the ankle.

Referring irst to Figs. lJl, inclusive, such a shoe comprises an upperportion IB which, in the embodiment shown, is formed of a relativelythin, soft and flexible kidskin or like material reinforced as at I2V:tor lacing eyelets i5, the lacing not being shown. The upper issecured as by stitching to a sole I6 and sole and heel taps il, Il'. Toenhance the light weight of the shoe the sole` strip I6 may be skiveddown at the front and there terminated. The usual insole I8 may beprovided and also traction members or spikes 2i), as customary inathletic shoes. I also provide a reinforcing heel strip 22 secured atthe bottom by stitching (not shown), along the side edges by stitching23 and at the top by a double row of stitching 2li, the upper portion ofsaid heel strip having wing-like extensions 2t. It will be under-stoodthat the upper portion Ill lis formed of a single piece of leather whichis seamed together as at 28 under the heel strip 22.

Secured to the upper and extending from toe to heel thereof is arelatively wide band of textile fabric material 33. Said material ispreferably of such a type as will provide extremely limited stretch inone direction, i. e., longitudinally of the shoe, say, to an extent ofthe order of about 1%. Such fabric should be of a tightly woven type andvarious types of weave and various bers may be employed, such as cotton,silk or synthetic fibers such as those known on the market as acetaterayon, nylon, etc. A highly satisfactory weave is that known in thetextile industry as webbing which, as seen best in Fig. l, is arrangedin such a way that its limited give or stretch is substantially only ina longitudinal direction.

The width of the band S vis such that said band occupies a substantialproportion of the width of the upper from the reinforcing portion l2 tothe sole, preferably about one-half or more of said width.

The band 30 is preferably formed of ya single length of materialextending uninterruptedly around the heel of the shoe, being secured tothe upper I, either on the inside or outside, but preferably on theoutside thereby by stitching 33, so as not to be felt by the wearer, andthe ends of the band being stitched under the toe of the shoe, as at Asan alternative construction, instead of forming the band 35 in onepiece, it may be formed in two pieces secured individually by stitchingto the upper d at or adjacent the heel, as, for example, under the heelstrip 22.

The band 3o functions eectively to limit the amount of longitudinalstretch of the shoe to an extremely low minimum regardless of the amountof flexing action given the shoe by the wearer and regardless of howmuch moisture may be imparted to the upper leather by perspiration orotherwise. At the same time, the slight yielding permitted by the fabricband 3E, which is slightly resilient, tending to return after stretchingto its original length, will add comfort to the wearer because, althoughhis foot will be firmly enclosed in the soft, form-fitting shoethroughout the entire flexing action of the foot, at the same time therewill be no uncomfortably tight feeling as if the foot were bound in avise. The slight yielding permitted by the character of band 3o willnegative any such discomfort.

Although, as stated above, transverse stretch can be overcome byincreasingly tight lacing during the life of a shoe of this type, in theordinary shoe there comes a time after some use when the reinforcedmarginal portions I2 meet because of the stretching of the leather andstretching beyond this point results only in undesirable bagginess ofthe shoe, for which no compensation can thereafter be made. Thesubstantial width o'f the band Sil prevents such effect, because of therelatively slight width of upper leather not covered by the band.

The upper leather below band 3c, being unreinforced, of course, retainsits maximum flexibility and thus may conform perfectly to the curvatureof the foot `around the more muscular portions thereof.

In order to prevent still further the stretching of the upper leather atthe heel portion, I prefer to secure under the heel strip .22 a band 38of fabric similar to that of the band 33. The fabric band 38 ispreferably arranged with its weave disposed transversely to that of theband 3Q, so that its limited give will be transverselyl of the shoe.Said band 38, may be secured, along itssidemedges,

d either over or under the strip 30, as by stitching 39.

The method of manufacture of the shoe described above will -be obviousfrom the above description to anyone skilled in the art. Preferably, thebands 3i) and 38 are stitched to the upper lil before the upper isattached to the sole as by stitching 40.

Referring now to the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 5-7, inclusive, theshoe is constructed subv stantially similarly to the shoe of Figs. l-4in regard to the orthodox parts of its structure, having an upperportion lil and a sole portion i6 and sole taps i9 and i9.

A band 39 of fabric or the like substantially similar to the band 3)shown in the other gures is secured adjacent the toe portion of the shoeas at All' in the same manner described for the other embodiment andextends longitudinally of the shoe to the heel portion 22', beingsecured thereto in a manner similar to the embodiment of Figs. 1 and 4.

However, in the embodiment of Figs. 5-7 the band 3G', instead of beingsecured entirely to one side of the shoe upper, is interlaced from theoutside to the inside thereof, as seen -best in Fig. 5. Thus, the band3G is secured to the outside of the shoe adjacent the toe portion, beingstitched to the Lipper as at 33', and then extends through a slit 5tinto the inside of the shoe. tends unattached to a slit 52, at whichpoint the band passes from the inside back to the outside of the shoe,extending along the outside and stitched thereto at 33 to another slit54; the band passes through the slit 5t and again extends unattachedaiong the inside of the shoe to a slit 55 through which it passes,continuing along the outside thereof and being stitched to the shoe fromthis point to the heel as in the embodiment of Fig. l. The band 3B isalso secured as by stitching 35, 35a., 35h and 35e adjacent the slitszl, 52, 53 and 55.

As a result of the interlacing arrangement just described, the shoesnugly conforms to the shape of the foot and retains this snug iitthroughout strenuous flexing, as in running. By leaving the bandpartially unstitched, close conformity of the band with the foot ismaintained despite some stretching of the upper leather.

The band may, of course, be stitched entirely on the inside of the shoe,if desired.

Various changes coming within the spirit of my invention are susceptibleof being incorporated without departing from the essential spirit orscope thereof. Hence, I do not wish to be limited to the particulars ofthe accompanying illustrations and drawings nor by the language chosenin the foregoing description, except to the extent indicated in theappended claim.

This application is in part a continuation of my copending applicationSerial No. 131,873, led December 8, 1949, now abandoned.

I claim:

A running shoe comprising a sole, calls carried by the ball portion ofthe sole, the heel portion of said sole being free of antislippingmeans, a

low-cut upper of soft leather', and longitudinalv stretch-preventingmeans comprising a substan tially non-stretchable tape extendinglongitudinally on each side of the upper' from the toe to the heelthereof and stitched along its side margins to the outside of the upper,the forward ends of said tape being turned under with the margin of theupper and secured between the outsole and.

the upper, said tape being of a Width approxi,-

t then ex- 5 6 mately half the height of the sides of the upper NumberName Date and spaced from the top and bottom margins 1,623,007 HerrmannMar. 29, 1927 lalong the greater length thereof, whereby to pro-1,707,129 f McMurchy Mar. 26, 1929 vide a continuous toe-to-heel flatband anchored 2,158,153 Roberts et al. May 16, 1939 adjacent the toe toopposite sides of thev shoe 5 2,184,082 Roberts Dec. 19, 1939 andextending around the heel for eliminating eX- 2,184,261 Vamos Dec. 19,1939 cessve stretching of the upper and insuring a 2,188,168 Winkel Jan.23, 1940 gntiuous snug t throughout a major area of FOREIGN PATENTS e soe.

ISADORE SHAPIRO. 10 Number Country Date 24,582/08 Great Britain Feb. 11,1909 References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSNumber Name Date 859,332 Hansen July 9, 1907 15

